Full Moon Pictures' Puppetmaster (1989) horror review

The 1989 horror film Puppet Master was directed by David Schmoeller and written by Charles Band and Kenneth J. Hall. Irene Miracle, Matt Roe and Kathryn O'Reilly feature as psychics who are plotted against by a former colleague using puppets controlled by an Egyptian spell in the film. Band ultimately decided that a direct-to-video release on October 12th, 1989, would be more financially successful than a theatrical release of Puppet Master, which was originally scheduled for theatrical distribution in the summer of 1989 before being released on home video in September of that year.

It was a huge hit, and it spawned a cult following as well as a franchise.

In 1939, at the Bodega Bay Inn in California, an old puppeteer named André Toulon is putting the finishing touches on his new puppet, Jester, before he brings it to life. As Nazi agents approach Toulon's chamber, Kahn, a real puppet, warns him to keep away.

Toulon puts all of the animated puppets in a chest and hides it in a wall panel recess. As the Nazis knock on the door, Toulon takes his own life. In the present day, Neil Gallagher "contacts" four psychics who live far away from each other. All five of them used to know each other: Professor Alex Whitaker had a dream about Neil and leeches, Dana Hadley had a vision of her own death, and psychic researchers Frank Forrester and Carissa Stamford were "contacted" by Neil in some way that wasn't clear.

Dana has also discovered Toulon's "hiding spot" and informs the others, setting up a rendezvous at Neil's home, the Bodega Bay Inn.

When they arrive, they discover that Neil not only has a wife, Megan, but that he has also committed suicide, leaving instructions for Megan to follow when the others arrive. After the murderer has left, the body of Neil is checked with a long pin in order to confirm if the victim is really dead.

The psychics get several conflicting images of Neil while getting situated within their quarters. Dana riles Megan during dinner that night, forcing her to leave the table and Pinhead, another animated doll, to climb out of Neil's coffin. Megan is accompanied by Alex, and he shares with her some of their history together. It is possible for Carissa, a psychologist, Dana, a clairvoyant who can discover objects and people, and Alex, a guy who has the power to view the future in his dreams, to perceive the emotional history of an item just by touching it. Neil was investigating alchemy when he found, with Frank's aid, that the Ancient Egyptians had devised a means of reanimating inanimate figurines, a power that André Toulon, the last genuine alchemist, had also discovered. But since Neil hadn't contacted them in a while, Dana and the others assumed he'd abandoned them and taken whatever he was searching for for himself, and they're here to settle the score. The housekeeper, Theresa, is attacked with a poker by Pinhead while tending to the fire that night, completing Dana's destiny.

Megan faints after seeing Gallagher's corpse on a chair; Alex attends to her as the others return the body to the coffin.

Alex and Dana's rooms have been found to be protected by spells, so Blade goes on to Carissa and Frank's, where they are having a very noisy sex session that is disturbing Alex and Dana. Underground and Leech Woman arrive as a third puppet.

Upon investigating the commotion coming from beneath the bed, Carissa is fatally drilled by Tunneler, and Leech Woman regurgitates leeches onto Frank, who is bound to the bed and drained of blood. Gallagher's corpse is found by Dana in her room when she returns from a stroll; Pinhead attacks and fractures her leg as a result. Pinhead pursues her and continuously tries to choke and pummel her until she finally manages to throw him away and crawl to the elevator, where she is met by Blade, who slits her neck, so completing her destiny and granting her riches.

Alex is ultimately roused from his dreams by Megan, who gives him Toulon's notebook and informs him that Neil discovered Toulon's secret to reanimation. Alex notices Neil in their attempt to run, and they come to find Dana, Frank, and Carissa's bodies clustered around a dining room table with the just resurrected Neil. His reason for his apparent suicide is that he used Toulon's secrets to reanimate himself in an effort to become immortal, but that he really committed himself.

He admits that he murdered Megan's parents and displays disdain for the puppets, forcefully tossing Jester away, content to experiment with human puppets. When the other puppets see this, they attack Neil: Tunneler removes his legs, Blade pins him, Leech Woman regurgitates a leech into his mouth, and Pinhead eventually breaks his neck. Megan sees Alex go the following day and brings Dana's pet dog Leroy to life as she ascends the stairs. The Puppet Master (1989) cast was quite skilled. André Toulon was portrayed by William Hickey.

Paul Le Mat played Alex Whitaker, the protagonist of the film, an anthropology professor at Yale University who is able to see into the future and see what may be.

Dana Hadley, played by Irene Miracle, is a small-time carnival psychic who specializes in fortune reading and retrieving lost/missing goods.

Jimmie F. Skaggs portrayed the role of Neil Gallagher, the antagonist of the movie and the eponymous Puppetmaster (1989). Neil Gallagher is the one who is ultimately responsible for the deaths of many of the film's former coworkers and friends at the hands of the live-action puppets. Megan Gallagher, Neil's wife, was portrayed by actress Robin Frates; she inherited the Bodega Bay from her deceased parents, which is where she and Neil originally met. In the movie "Psychic Readings," which was shown on ABC, the actor Matt Roe portrayed the role of Frank Forrester, who was a specialist in sexual psychic readings. Carissa Stamford, a clairvoyant who regularly sees former sexual trauma victims or couples having sex and can recreate the emotional history of any object by touch, was played by Kathryn O'Reilly, a psychometrist at Pensa Research Inc (PRI) and Frank's partner.

Theresa, the Gallaghers' housekeeper, was Mews Small. At the carnival, Barbara Crampton portrayed a lady. Blade, Jester, Pinhead, Tunneler, Leech Woman, Shredder Khan, and Gengie.

Paramount Home Video released Puppet Master on VHS on September 30, 1989.

On June 13, 2000, Full Moon Home Video was the first to put here the movie on DVD. After the March 2008 release of The Puppetmaster (1989) by Wizard Entertainment, the company issued a Blu-ray in July 2010. Full Moon Features issued a remastered DVD at the same time.

Along with the Killjoy series, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment published "Killjoy and Puppet Master (1989): The Complete Collections" in 2014, however both series have since developed more sequels. On April 10, 2018, Full Moon released both a Blu-ray and a limited-edition vintage VHS collection. Only 3,000 of the latter were made, and Band signed and numbered the first 300. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a 4/10 average rating based on seven reviews, which means that only 43% of people liked it.

TV Guide didn't like it and said it was "a pointless variation on the killer-doll genre."

The atmosphere, the music, and the set design were lauded, but the performances, the bad script, and the first act were severely criticized.

Although Puppetmaster isn't a great film, its heart is in the right place, and I've always loved demonic dolls in horror films, so the flaws are easily overlooked.

Despite its limitations, Puppetmaster emerges as one of the more pleasant of the 'killer toy' type horror flicks, according to Wes of another website.

Following its success, the film's cult reputation generated a multi-decade sequel series. Puppetmaster II was released in 1990, Puppetmaster 4 was released in 1993, Puppetmaster 5 was released in 1994, and Puppetmaster: The Legacy was released in 1998. (2003). Like Retro Puppetmaster, Toulon's Revenge (1991) serves as a prequel (1999). A loose prequel trilogy has started with Puppet Master (1989): Axis of Evil (2010), Axis Rising (2012), and Axis Termination (2013). (2017). odahsrecked Blade: The Iron Cross, a spin-off centered on the puppet Blade, was released in 2020. Another film, this time about Doktor Death, is set to be released in 2022. (from Retro).

In 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel aired Puppet Master (1989) vs. Demonic Toys, a crossover with fellow Full Moon series Demonic Toys. Full Moon announced a deal with indie gaming company 'October Games' in September 2021 to create an official Puppet Master game, which would be launched on Steam in late 2022.

It was reported in March 2009 that Band planned to recreate the original picture in 3-D.

Interesting information about the Puppet Master (1989)

In the punching portions of the movie, dwarf stuntwoman Cindy Sorensen was shown wearing fingerless gloves and a sweater sleeve to simulate Pinhead's fists; however, it was really her own fists that were employed in the action. Cindy had a difficult obstacle when she was required to keep her head down the whole time while also holding the Pinhead puppet on her shoulders and throwing fake punches at the same time. Leech Woman's mouth is made of foam latex, which makes it look like it moves more when she "coughs" up a leech.

Despite the fact that only three quarters of the leech mechanism is visible, a simple camera cut gives the appearance that a whole leech emerges from Leech Woman's lips.

The size of the hotel room in Bodega Bay was comparable to that of a refrigerator. As soon as the producers had decided on a location that would be appropriate for the scene, they used force perspective to make their model hotel seem as if it were standing in the real world.

Five puppeteers were needed to operate the Blade puppet.

The movie was inspired by Charles Band's Dolls (1986). Director David Schmoeller admitted in a 1999 interview with horror movie website The Terror Trap that he was not involved with the rest of the Puppet Master (1989) series, aside from a character credit, because it would reveal someone other than Full Moon CEO Charles Band was responsible for the creation of Full Moon's most famous franchise.

Schmoeller was never asked to provide a director's commentary when the first "Puppetmaster (1989)" film was released on DVD. He said in the same interview that Charles Band still owed him residuals.

David Schmoeller drew his idea for the puppet Blade from one of David Schmoeller's favorite actors, Klaus Kinski. Charles Band drew a six-armed Ninja with firearms in his early sketches of puppets. In Puppet Master (1989) III: Toulon's Revenge, the idea for the puppet Six-Shooter is found in this puppet (1991). Originally scheduled to hit cinemas in the summer of 1989 and home video in September, the film was moved back to October 12, 1989 as a direct-to-video release after producer Charles Band indicated in an interview that he would earn more money in the DTV market than he would in the theatrical market.

In 2010, creator Charles Band planned to rework the original film. Due to harsh criticism, the project was shelved, and instead Puppetmaster (1989) Axis of Evil was created.

The majority of the soundtrack for this film was provided by The Tourist Trap (1979), a film with similar themes on which director David Schmoeller and producer Charles Band had previously collaborated. The soundtrack for this film is primarily comprised of synthesized versions of Pino Donaggio's music.

Band's inspiration for Puppet Master (1989) stems from his early days at Empire Pictures. In 1984, he worked on The Dungeonmaster (aka Ragewar), which many fans adored.

He's always been interested by miniature dolls/figurines coming to life, and when he decided to produce a film on living puppets, he recalled how well The Dungeonmaster welcomed his work.

He liked the name so much that he decided to base the movie around it. Blade's costume never changes from movie to movie. Blade is the only puppet to appear on all of the Puppetmaster Movies' VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray covers.

Blade, a puppet without lungs or other internal organs, runs hard and sounds out of breath near the opening of the film. In addition, the other puppets' panting, groaning, and moaning can be heard throughout the picture. Even though they are all unable to communicate verbally.